Sony offered the first post-GDC explanations for its secret project called HOME, giving also a few hints about how the app will work with the company's other popular product, the PSP.
Basically, Sony's new online service called HOME is a free 3D environment where PS3 owners get to meet virtually using their avatars, get to show off with their game achievements and, of course, get to play. From what Sony demoed at GDC, HOME is a 95% imitation of the "Second Life" game and of web-sites like GoGoFrog (http://www.gogofrog.com/), that let you create and personalize your own virtual 3D space.
According to Sony's press release "Home is a real-time online 3D, networked community available on the PLAYSTATION Network. It allows PS3 users to interact, communicate, join online games, shop, share private content and even build and show off their own personal spaces to others in real time. Home will be available as a free download from the PLAYSTATION Store and will launch directly from XMB (XrossMediaBar) on PS3.
With an avatar uniquely customized according to each user's preference, users can explore the 3D community that is Home – a sleek, modern environment featuring spacious common areas; custom spaces dedicated to specific games; and personal apartments. Each user is assigned an apartment in Home where they can invite others to join them as they show off their own style in an area they can personalize themselves with furniture, art and other items – even a different view from their windows. They can also show their personal video, pictures and other digital media content found on their PS3 hard drives in their apartments. Very rich interactive communication with others is achieved through built in text, audio and video chat, along with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.
Sharing continues in the "Hall of Fame," where users can display new 3D trophies that will be unlocked through in-game milestones for the games they own as well viewing the trophies of other users across the PLAYSTATION Network and for other games they've yet to purchase."
"This is a significant step forward in the area of user community services and emergent entertainment experiences," said Izumi Kawanishi, Corporate Executive and CTO Software, SCEI. "While the 3D graphics demonstrate the power of PS3 and the PLAYSTATION Network, the most impressive feature in Home is the variety of ways in which multiple consumers, as well as our third-party partners, can experience the next generation of communication by interacting and sharing among each other. I feel strongly that this unique blend of community, user-generated content, collaboration and commerce will expand the future of computer entertainment."
HOME will debut this spring for beta-testers and it will launch at full speed later this year, which raises the question of whether the delay will still make the service enticing for gamers, considering that by then they will have improved versions of Second Life, Mii and Xbox Live as alternatives. The fact that it will be free could attract PS3 owners, though there is no guarantee that Sony's investment in its 3D environment (which is said to have been in development for about two years) will remain free in the future.
"Technology innovation is part of the culture at SCE as evidenced by our influence on real-time 3D computer graphics and the optical disc format in the 1990's, to the more recent innovations such as Cell Broadband Engine computing and the use of Blu-ray in PS3," said Phil Harrison, president, Worldwide Studios, SCE. "Our vision for the future, Game 3.0, will continue our track record of industry advancement by leveraging the convergence of technologies, from broadband and video chat to supercomputer-speed processors, to make gaming more interactive and dynamic than ever before."
In a Q&A interview with Sony officials, Threespeech got some interesting answers to some burning questions. When asked about why exactly they built the HOME environment, Sony responded:
"The power of PS3 and the Network afford us the opportunity to create a unique user service that will define the future of community on computer entertainment platforms. We feel it is important to foster not only user-interaction, but increased, ongoing contact between users, first and third party publishers and other partners. […]The ambition is to create a highly interactive 3D environment that will bring millions of people together from around the globe to share common interests, build friendships and explore the world of SCE PlayStation."
As mentioned earlier, HOME "is free to download and free to use. The user will be able to purchase items from the Store (Home supports the Playstation wallet) to further customize their Home Space, as well as make purchases from other third party partners."
When it will launch at full capacity later this year, HOME will be a global community, supporting multiple languages like Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. But "because it is a network service, it is easy to extend the language support in the future after the initial beta trial. In the full service, we will support local languages consistent with the way we localize our game titles."
One of the most interesting questions asked by Threespeech was about the resemblance between HOME and other services like Xbox Live. In response, Sony boasted with the potential of its new service, laughing at Microsoft's counter-part: "Home is a first of its kind 3D community that allows for open interaction between consumers, SCE and third party partners. It is a truly interactive, global community of users. Xbox Live is a static, 2D, text-heavy environment that can't match the rich community features found in Home. Xbox Live community interaction is much more passive and limited to the members on that friend's list."
When asked also about the obvious similitude with Linden Lab's Second Life game, Sony said that "Home is a much more rich, user friendly experience than Second Life, allowing for ease of entry and use, as well as being fully-functional with the technology and capabilities of PS3."
Concerning the monetizing issue for the PS3 HOME environment, Sony declared that "The business model for Home is based on a combination of ecommerce and advertising revenue, but we will not discuss the exact details of our business model."
Third party developers and Sony's partners will also have their place well defined in the HOME eco-system. They will be able to custom entire lobbies to promote their products to gamers from the PlayStation Network, they will have their own space where they will provide downloadable content to users and where they will implement different e-commerce models. "Advertising options will also be made available through Home, in addition to sponsorship of in-world events and Home real estate."
The difference between HOME and PS Store is that "Home is a real-time online 3D, networked community available on the Network, while the Store offers free and premium digital goods delivered directly to your PS3."
Sony also said that the HOME application will take around 500 MB of your PS3 hard-drive: "The Home download is targeted to be under 500 MBs."
PS3 owners are not the only ones favored in the HOME environment, as the PSP owners will also have access to the network, probably through a future firmware update. Sony said that "your Virtual PSP gives you access to all the navigation, features and options of Home."
From the screens provided by Threespeech PSP owners will apparently be able to move the furniture present in their space, will have a world map and will also be able to customize the character's face.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Sony Warns About European PS3 Backwards Compatibility
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said that backwards compatibility with PlayStations 2 games of the PlayStation 3 console, slated to be released in PAL regions in about a month, will not be as good as that of the Japanese and the U.S. versions of the console (which play 98% of old games). "The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models," a Sony spokesperson was quoted as saying by Reuters news-agency. It is unclear exactly how many games will be playable on the next generation console. Sony emphasized that the company expects end-users to jump on the PS3 bandwagon in anticipation of improved game titles made exclusively for the new console: "Rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3."
To make matters worse for European gamers, in PAL regions the machines will retail for up to $240 more than in the U.S. and up to $345 higher compared to the recommended price (¥59 980 or $495) in Japan. Initially Sony will only sell the higher-end PlayStation 3 version of the console (60GB HDD), for €599 ($777) in the most of the markets and for pricing close to that in variety of countries: UK – £425 ($837), Ireland – €629 ($816), Australia – AUD 999.95 ($777), New Zealand – NZ 1199.95 ($840).
Make or break for PS3 as hard-sell kicks off
THE battle for supremacy in the console games market kicked off in earnest at the weekend as Sony began a month-long drive to convince consumers it's soon to be released PlayStation 3 is the way of the future.
Sony Computer Entertainment and its retail partners will spend $7 million over the next six weeks, with much of the marketing aimed at giving people hands-on experience with the console.
"Demo, demo, demo" is SCE managing director Michael Ephraim's catchcry.
Sony Computer Entertainment and its retail partners will spend $7 million over the next six weeks, with much of the marketing aimed at giving people hands-on experience with the console.
"Demo, demo, demo" is SCE managing director Michael Ephraim's catchcry.
With rival Microsoft's Xbox 360 trading at half the price of the PS3, and Nintendo's Wii coming in at under $300, Mr Ephraim admitted people needed to trial the PS3 to be convinced the $999.95 price tag was value.
At the weekend retailers fired their first salvos as part of the Sony push, with Harvey Norman retailer Domayne offering $50 vouchers (understood to be underwritten by SCE) to customers if they are unable to get a hands-on demonstration of the machine.
The PS3 launch is also the first stage of the battle for supremacy between High Definition DVD and the Blu Ray formats, with PS3 featuring Blu Ray.
While PS3 consoles will be hot properties when stores around the country open at midnight on March 23, Mr Ephraim knows the marketing battle is to be played out over months, not weeks, when the average family, not tech-savvy early adopters, will need convincing.
The key, he said, was making them see the PS3 as an entertainment centre merging gaming, movies, the internet and messaging through the (preferably high-definition) TV in the living room.
"We are very aware and have punctuated that point -- demo, demo, demo," Mr Ephraim said.
"We have talked to our retail partners. My company have set the agenda of demo-ing. How we go about that is tricky and costly."
Part of the challenge is demonstrating the wireless aspects of the device in a store environment.
"The key retailers -- Harvey Norman, Domayne, JB, Myer -- all these stores that I have just mentioned sell consumer electronics and they see the benefit to selling PS3 properly because they will sell Bravia (TVs), MP3 Players (and) Walkmans.
'Demo is the way to go. It is a strategic direction I have given the organisation as far as marketing dollars, retail co-op dollars."
Sony Euro PS3 fire storm mostly in the media
The Inquirer is one of my favorite sites, and Charlie Demerjian one of my favorite writers, so it was with some interest that I read his story on 'Sony Euro PS3 debacle risks a major fire storm', an article worth reading.
In it, Demerjian explains that one of the "fundamental tenets" of games console design is that the platform remains the same over its lifespan, and that any changes are never made to ensure compatibility over the console's lifespan.
After all, one change or bug fix here or there could cause a raft of games to stop working on certain models, something that Demerjian says has never happened before with a games console.
But that's funny – I remember the PS2 getting a much slimmer case and newer electronics inside, and from memory, there were some older PS2 games that paid the price and wouldn't run, or wouldn't run properly on the newer PS2 models. What complaint there was about this was soon forgotten. Even the original Playstation (PS1) had improvements over the years, causing, once again from memory, minor problems of the same nature.
At the moment, it is fashionable in the media to be bashing Sony for all its perceived and real ills, from exploding batteries to rootkits to PS3 delays, and now, the removal of the hardware PS2 'emotion engine' chipset from European, Australian, Middle Eastern and African PS3 models, said to save Sony US $27 per console from here on in.
The expectation is that Sony will also remove this functionality from future PS3's destined for the US and Japanese markets, although this has not been confirmed.
But Sony are promising that the console will still play many PS2 games, and says they will publish a list after the March 23 'rest of the world' launch, and will continue updating firmware to ensure that more PS2 games work with the PS2 software compatibility the new PS3 models will have to rely on. Sony are being criticized for not releasing this list now, especially after people have paid good pre-order money and are getting a different product to the one they expected when placing their orders.
And yes, Sony has done a bad thing to consumers expecting excellent PS2 compatibility to save $27 per PS3. But Sony has stated that the future for the PS3 is in PS3 games and digital media experiences. It is not in running PS2 games. Given that the PS2 is expected to outsell the PS3 in 2007 and 2008, new PS2 games are sure to continue arriving.
Any super-mega blockbuster games might just have to be tweaked by Sony to run on the PS3 as well as they do on the PS2. Sony will also likely be ensuring that any mega-blockbuster type games will also be available in a much more advanced PS3 version.
The whole PS2 and PS3 compatibility issue is certainly a mess that Sony should have handled much, much better, after promising an inbuilt chipset that would mean a PS2 built-in to every PS3 as standard.
They've changed their tune to save $27 per console and are paying the price right now with bad publicity. There's certainly a big fire storm in the media about this issue, but in the long term, it will be but a blip on the radar.
Sony's strategy is clear: the PS3 is the games console of the future, and most of Sony's focus will be aimed in this direction. Sony can't lose the next-gen race and are betting the company on the PS3. It's a bet I think they'll win, even if others in the media don't.
add your comment.
European PS3 users screwed
Well, that's kind of how I feel to be honest. If you read my previous PS3 posting here then you will appreciate that one of the reasons I opted for the much more expensive Sony PS3 over and above the hugely cheaper Microsoft Xbox 360 was the fact that I have an extensive collection of PS2 games. The ability to be able to play these on the PS3 is something of a critical concern when you have young kids hooked on things like The Simpsons Hit and Run, Barbie Horse Adventure and Pro-Evolution Soccer. And yes, I know I could probably buy a PS3 version of PES but that is missing the point: I already own the latest version and don't want to spend yet more money on the same thing.
Which is why I am feeling just a little peeved right now, having just heard the news that the European PS3, this is the one that costs an arm, leg and half a torso more than the US or Japanese versions, will play far fewer PS2 games than either of those. Whereas the US and Japanese versions of the PS3, for example, are compatible with 98 percent of PS2 games, the European version won't be. Sony has not put a percentage on it, but has confirmed that the backwards compatibility is "not going to be as good as the US and Japan models."
THQ to bring Conan brand to PS3, Xbox 360
THQ Inc. on Mon. announced that it will bring the Conan brand to Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 in early 2008.
The game release is the first in a multi-year deal to develop titles based on Robert E. Howard's original stories.
The game release is the first in a multi-year deal to develop titles based on Robert E. Howard's original stories.
"The strength and diversity of the Conan brand lends itself extremely well to the interactive format," said Jack Sorensen, executive vice president, worldwide studios, THQ. "Through intense combat, familiar environments and next generation visuals, we believe Conan fans and action adventure enthusiasts alike are certain to embrace this future addition to the Conan universe."
Nihilistic Software will develop th eaction adventure title. The game is said to feature a variety of enemies, weapons, and fighting styles.
"The Conan brand has captured the hearts of dedicated fans for 75 years," said Fredrik Malmberg, President and CEO, Paradox Entertainment. "We have enjoyed tremendous success with our brand extensions and look forward to working with THQ to bring this upcoming chapter of Conan's ambitious journey to a video game format."
Microsoft has shipped 10.4 million Xbox 360 units worldwide to date. Sony has shipped 2 million PS3 units to global markets to date.
Prices for Euro PS3 games cheaper than Xbox 360
Interestingly, many thought PS3 games would sell for the same price as Xbox 360 games at €69.99 in Europe, £49.99 in the UK, but they will actually sell for the same price as games for the cheaper Nintendo Wii console. This means the price of PS3 games is €59.99 in Europe, £39.99 in the UK, AUD $99.95 in Australia and NZ $109.95 in New Zealand.
Unfortunately, these prices are only guaranteed for the first five games Sony releases, which might mean that future games will be more expensive, although this is yet to be officially confirmed.
Unfortunately, these prices are only guaranteed for the first five games Sony releases, which might mean that future games will be more expensive, although this is yet to be officially confirmed.
In addition, downloadable 'PlayStation Network' games will be available, and these include fl0w, Super Rub a Dub and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. These will sell during an 'introductory period' at prices ranging from €2.99 to €9.99 – or US $4 to $13, while other downloadable content, such as addition songs for SingStar or additional tracks in racing games among others is set to cost from as little as €0.99 per download.
Happily, the download of Gran Turismo HD will remain free as in the US and Japan.
In a statement, David Reeves, President and CEO of SCEE said that "Not only will it be completely free to register on the PlayStation Network with no subscription fees and access to many free demos, but with these competitive prices for additional content we are able to offer the consumer both top quality games on Blu-ray discs and a whole range of downloadable content from the PlayStation Network. With over 30 first and third party disc and network games available at launch, we are confident that this will be one of the most successful launches of all time."
Everyone else working at Sony can only hope he's right!
Phil Harrison: We Are Under No Pressure to Drop PS3's Price
| Phil Harrison: We Are Under No Pressure to Drop PS3's Price In an exclusive interview at D.I.C.E., Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios President Phil Harrison told us that he has "no regrets whatsoever" about Blu-ray and the PS3 launch and that Sony does not feel any pressure to drop the PS3's price this year. | ||||||||||
| GameDaily BIZ: Are you bothered by all the negative press about Sony and the PS3 lately? Even certain mainstream press publications have labeled the console biggest disappointment, etc...
Phil Harrison: No, not a bit. I think, first of all, the so called negativity is in a fairly narrow section of the media. The most important thing, however, is that the people who buy the system love it, and the fact that we have great reaction—great scores if you will—from the people who bought PS3 [who've enjoyed] the games that they've played and the services that they get. That's all that really matters. I don't really care about the negativity in the press; if it was true, if they were talking about real big issues that were genuine criticisms, then of course we'll address them, but there's nothing that bothers me. I think the fact that we are able to have a very well organized, very well managed supply channel, which allows us to keep the stores restocked, is a really positive thing. You would be sitting here saying, "Why the hell are you out of stock? Why the hell can't you manage the supply chain and why can't people buy PS3s?" So we're actually doing in succeeding in managing to keep the demand satisfied, so I think that's a positive. BIZ: That actually leads into my next question, because a lot of the analysts have been making a big deal out of the fact that retailers seem to continue to sell out of the Wii while PS3s are found in stock at more stores. What do you make of that? PH: I think you should talk to the people who are running those stores. Talk to the people who run GameStop, talk to the people who run BestBuy, and they'll tell you that the demand is unprecedented and that they give us kudos for managing to keep a very sophisticated supply chain moving. What our competitors are doing I can't speak to but I know we are achieving our goals of keeping the market supplied and working closely with retailers to make sure they get informed about when supplies are coming in so that they can match their internal and external communications to store managers and consumers about when to buy a PS3. If that means that for Wednesday through Friday there were a few machines on a shelf in a store in Milwaukee, great!
BIZ: Jack Tretton recently said the PS3 would be difficult to cost reduce, and yet a Japanese exec followed that by telling reporters that Sony would consider a price drop. What are the odds that we'll see a lower price on the PS3 this year? PH: Well, I'm not sure about the context in which Jack made that comment... but the PS3 technology, as with any of our platforms, starts off life at a high price and then we engineer cost out of it. And that process is an investment that you make to combine chips into a single chip or to reduce components or combine components and redesign things, and that investment is part of our planned R&D effort to reduce cost. At the appropriate time and when we can afford to, the business model of the industry is to pass those savings onto the consumer, but we're a long way away from doing that yet. BIZ: But don't you feel pressure from the realities of the market and people who maybe don't want to spend $600? Do you feel there is pressure to drop the price this year? PH: Absolutely no pressure at all. I think that the reality of the market is that there's a great deal of software people want to buy, there's a great deal of software coming that will stimulate further activity in the market. We're very comfortable with the plan. BIZ: A lot of gamers, including myself, enjoy the controller's motion sensing at times, but we still miss rumble. If gamers want it and are vocal enough, will Sony reintroduce the force feedback at some point? PH: We have no plans to do so in the standard controller that ships with PlayStation 3. I believe that the Sixaxis controller offers game designers and developers far more opportunity for future innovation than rumble ever did. Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is. And we don't see the need to do that. Having said that, there will be specific game function controllers, potentially like steering wheels that do include vibration or feedback function—not from us but from third parties. BIZ: When you look at all the bad things associated with Blu-ray – the big cost it added to the PS3, the fact that it was mainly responsible for the initial shortage and delay to Europe, the slower disc read times – are you still happy with Sony's decision to go with this technology? PH: It wasn't Sony's decision; it was our [SCE's] decision. We needed to have Blu-ray disc from a game design point of view. The chipsets in PS3 chew through data at such a rate that in order to build variety and detail and quality into the games, we need more than nine gigabytes. Now, the fact that we could also adopt the preeminent next generation movie format into PS3 was an added bonus, not an added cost. [What you said regarding] disc speed is a complete myth. It makes no difference to the operation of the game whatsoever. The blue laser diode, as you well know, had a blip short-term ramp up issue, which is now past; that's now behind us. That did cause us some challenges in being able to supply the launch worldwide, but that's all resolved. BIZ: So no regrets? PH: No regrets whatsoever, and it's those kinds of decisions, painful though they were to live through in the last quarter of 2006, those are the decisions that are going to propel PlayStation 3 to be a platform that lasts for ten years, like we've seen with PS1 and PS2. And it will be, I believe, reflected on as the smartest decision we ever made. | ||||||||||
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Report: PS3 to crush competition by 2010 (sorta)
A new report by Screen Digest (abridged by Gamasutra) suggest that the PS3 will outsell both the 360 and Wii respectively by 2010, though "PS2-style dominance will not be repeated." The forecast predicts the PS3 will take the Japanese and Euro markets, while the 360 will slightly edge out Sony here in the States. The Wii? That'll be "a distant third" according to the conservative analysis. Still, the report acknowledges Nintendo's potential in closing the upset: "Nintendo's strategy with the Wii is, at the moment, the great unknown... if Nintendo can make this work... the potential is absolutely huge." Read on for the full skinny.
Revised PS3 hardware is a good thing!
In case you don't already know, on Friday 24th March, Sony announced that the European/Australasian/Middle-East/African/ release of the Playstation 3 would feature an updated hardware architecture http://threespeech.com/blog/?p=291
The original PS3 effectively had a PS2 'stapled' onto the hardware. However to reduce production costs Sony have removed the PS2 custom chips, and games will be emulated via the PS3 hardware and a potential price drop before Christmas 2007. £299 sounds a whole lot sweeter than £425. In the short term there are likely to be less PS2 games that are compatible. This has met with a bad reaction...
The original PS3 effectively had a PS2 'stapled' onto the hardware. However to reduce production costs Sony have removed the PS2 custom chips, and games will be emulated via the PS3 hardware and a potential price drop before Christmas 2007. £299 sounds a whole lot sweeter than £425. In the short term there are likely to be less PS2 games that are compatible. This has met with a bad reaction...
Now I definately understand this. Sony have previously stated that they would like the PlayStation platform to become be as ubiquotous as the living room TV, and they want to do this by providing a stable, compatible, standard Playstation format. And what was so great about the Playstation 2 when it was released was that it meant people didnt have to ditch their old (sometimes extensive) games collection. Not to mention the fact that there are some truly fantastic games that are still coming out on the PS2 in its sunset years including Okami, Final Fantasy XII, Gods of War II etc. Obviously Sony will go to the effort to make the megahits compatible but what about the little selling, unknown, or just plain quirky games? Will Sony bother?
Well, the plan is that Sony will make more and more PS2 games compatible via firmware updates. But unlike Microsoft who have effectively stopped bothering to make the xbox 1 games compatible, Sony have said this will be a continual process.
Well, the plan is that Sony will make more and more PS2 games compatible via firmware updates. But unlike Microsoft who have effectively stopped bothering to make the xbox 1 games compatible, Sony have said this will be a continual process.
Even better is that the PS2 would upscale the graphics of PS1 games to improve their sheen. Now the PS3 via emulation has the potential to upscale PS2 games to HD levels to reduce blockiness. PS2 games upscaled to 1080p is definately a possibility and it means anybody with a shiny new HDTV gets to play PS2 games better than ever. Is this actually happening? A couple of PS3 developers have already gone on record saying this can be done on their developers kits. Fingers crossed that this will happen sooner rather than later...
Sony To Produce PS3-Priced Blu-Ray Player
The format war has begun, and early indications are that Blu-Ray is outpacing HD-DVD in terms of popularity. Furthermore, one of the biggest appeals of the PS3 is its Blu-Ray capability and it's relatively cheap price. Most Blu-Ray players cost in the vicinity of $1000, and they can't play games or DVDs, which makes the PS3 quite a bargain for true HD hounds. But outside of the PS3, the consumer outcry has been simple- Blu-Ray players are too expensive.
Therefore, Sony has responded with the announcement of the BDP-S300, the cheapest standalone Blu-Ray player to date. It's supposed to have all the same capabilities of any other player, but it just costs less. Now, this almost seems like it could hinder PS3 sales, but in looking at the bigger picture, it should serve to further the interest and expansion of Blu-Ray. And besides, Sony stands firm in their conviction that the PS3 is primarily a video game machine.
Head of PR for Sony Computer Entertainment America, Dave Karraker, provided this official statement to Next Generation-
"Yesterday's announcement from Sony broadens options for movie lovers and will help to further expand Blu-ray adoption, so it is a benefit to consumers and the company. Our research shows that the number-one purchase driver for the PS3 is the ability to play high-definition, next-generation games. PS3 has always been about gaming first and foremost."
We'd be inclined to agree with that assessment, and it will be proven if the PS3 produces the great games, and Blu-Ray catches on...and both seem very likely to happen at this point.
European PS3 Won't Carry Chip for PS2
But packing the machine with two expensive computer chips to play both PS2 and upgrade PS3 games has been racking up costs for the money-losing PS3, a big reason behind Sony Corp.'s flagging earnings lately.
The European PlayStation 3, set to go on sale March 23, won't carry the chip for PlayStation 2 and will instead use special software to play PS2 games, saving costs and making mass production easier by reducing parts, Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Daisuke Nakata said Wednesday, while refusing to say how much the move will save.
"The method used for playing PS2 games is going to be different," he said. "We also want to concentrate on developing PS3 games."
It's still undecided whether PS3 machines for Japan, U.S. and elsewhere will also be sold without the PS2 chip, but the option is being considered, Nakata said.
The U.S. and Japanese version PS3 machines had also failed to deliver full compatibility with PS2 games.
Almost as soon as PS3 went on sale in Japan and the U.S., Sony acknowledged it wasn't properly playing thousands of PS2 games, with some scenes freezing, the music not playing, or the game not working at all.
Sony has been offering downloads to fix the problem, but not all the problems have been fixed, according to Sony Computer Entertainment.
Downloads for the European PS3 will also be available for playing more PS2 games, but the number of PS2 games the machine will be able to play is still undecided as work is still ongoing to make as many games as possible playable, said Nakata.
The decision to forego the PS2 chip for the European model, announced Friday in Europe, is yet another blow to the PS3, plagued by production delays. The European launch was postponed until March from the initially promised Christmas.
The PS3 has also suffered a bit of an image problem against the spectacular hit of rival Wii home console from Nintendo Co., maker of the GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS handheld machines, as well as Pokemon and Super Mario games.
Skeptics have noted Wii is out of stock while PS3 can be found on shelves. One drawback to PS3 is that at $499 and $599, it costs about twice as much as the Wii.
Although backward compatibility with PS2 would seem a small issue for its cutting-edge successor, there still aren't that many PS3 games on sale. A great deal of time is required to develop PS3 games, and attractive games are being promised for later this year.
Still, what is being perceived as PS3 problems is hurting Sony at a time when it is trying to achieve a turnaround, shedding unprofitable divisions and selling assets.
Sony's October-December profit slipped 5 percent to 160 billion yen ($1.3 billion), largely because of PS3 startup costs. The company has fallen behind rivals in recent years in key gadgets such as flat-panel TVs and portable music players, but it has been gradually boosting profits in its electronics operations.
Sony has sold 1.8 million PS3, while Nintendo sold 3.2 million Wii machines worldwide by the end of last year.
Sony shares, which have been gradually recovering in the last three months, plunged 6 percent to 6,130 yen ($51.90) in Tokyo midday amid a broad market retreat.